Storage unit shutdown in a distributed storage network using a load-balancer

ABSTRACT

A method begins by a load balancing module of a distributed storage network (DSN) determining availability of a plurality of DSN processing units of a set of DSN processing units based on availability information associated with the plurality of DSN processing units and in response to determined availability, selecting a DSN processing unit form the set to process a data access request. The method continues with the load balancing module receiving an indication that the DSN processing unit is no longer available from the DSN processing unit while the DSN processing unit continues to process previously pending data access requests. The method continues with the load balancing module cancelling selection of the DSN processing unit to process the data access request; and receiving a second indication from the DSN processing unit indication that the DSN processing unit is available.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS

The present U.S. Utility Patent application claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 120 as a continuation of Utility application Ser. No. 15/900,525, entitled “MANAGED STORAGE UNIT SHUTDOWN IN A DISTRIBUTED STORAGE NETWORK”, filed Feb. 20, 2018, which claims priority as a continuation-in-part pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 121 to U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 15/345,172, entitled “STORING DATA IN A DIRECTORY-LESS DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK,” filed Nov. 7, 2016, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,927,976 on Mar. 27, 2018, which claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 121 as a divisional of U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 14/307,625, entitled “STORING DATA IN A DIRECTORY-LESS DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK”, filed Jun. 18, 2014, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,495,118 on Nov. 15, 2016, which claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/860,498, entitled “DISPERSED STORAGE AND COMPUTING NETWORK COMPONENTS AND OPTIMIZATIONS”, filed Jul. 31, 2013, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety and made part of the present U.S. Utility Patent Application for all purposes.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT—NOT APPLICABLE Incorporation-by-Reference of Material Submitted on a Compact Disc—not Applicable BACKGROUND Technical Field

This present disclosure relates generally to computer networks and more particularly to dispersed storage of data and distributed task processing of data.

Description of Related Art

Computing devices are known to communicate data, process data, and/or store data. Such computing devices range from wireless smart phones, laptops, tablets, personal computers (PC), work stations, and video game devices, to data centers that support millions of web searches, stock trades, or on-line purchases every day. In general, a computing device includes a central processing unit (CPU), a memory system, user input/output interfaces, peripheral device interfaces, and an interconnecting bus structure.

As is further known, a computer may effectively extend its CPU by using “cloud computing” to perform one or more computing functions (e.g., a service, an application, an algorithm, an arithmetic logic function, etc.) on behalf of the computer. Further, for large services, applications, and/or functions, cloud computing may be performed by multiple cloud computing resources in a distributed manner to improve the response time for completion of the service, application, and/or function. For example, Hadoop is an open source software framework that supports distributed applications enabling application execution by thousands of computers.

In addition to cloud computing, a computer may use “cloud storage” as part of its memory system. As is known, cloud storage enables a user, via its computer, to store files, applications, etc. on an Internet storage system. The Internet storage system may include a RAID (redundant array of independent disks) system and/or a dispersed storage system that uses an error correction scheme to encode data for storage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a dispersed or distributed storage network (DSN) in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a computing core in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an example of dispersed storage error encoding of data in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a generic example of an error encoding function in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a specific example of an error encoding function in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a slice name of an encoded data slice (EDS) in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an example of dispersed storage error decoding of data in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a generic example of an error decoding function in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9A is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a dispersed storage network (DSN) system in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 9B is a diagram illustrating an example of load-balancing in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 10A is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed storage (DS) execution unit in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 10B is a diagram illustrating an example of memory utilization in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 10C is a diagram illustrating another example of memory utilization in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 10D is a flowchart illustrating an example of updating memory utilization information in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 10E is a flowchart illustrating example ways to identify slices needing a rebuild in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 10F is a flowchart illustrating another example of updating memory utilization information;

FIG. 10G is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example DS client module structure for memory utilization;

FIG. 11A is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a dispersed storage network (DSN) system in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 11B is a diagram illustrating an example of generating a slice name in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 11C is a flowchart illustrating an example of co-locating storage of data in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 11D is a flowchart illustrating one example of obtaining the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to be co-located; and

FIG. 11E is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a dispersed storage network (DSN) system in accordance with the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a dispersed, or distributed, storage network (DSN) 10 that includes a plurality of computing devices 12-16, a managing unit 18, an integrity processing unit 20, and a DSN memory 22. The components of the DSN 10 are coupled to a network 24, which may include one or more wireless and/or wire lined communication systems; one or more non-public intranet systems and/or public internet systems; and/or one or more local area networks (LAN) and/or wide area networks (WAN).

The DSN memory 22 includes a plurality of storage units 36 that may be located at geographically different sites (e.g., one in Chicago, one in Milwaukee, etc.), at a common site, or a combination thereof. For example, if the DSN memory 22 includes eight storage units 36, each storage unit is located at a different site. As another example, if the DSN memory 22 includes eight storage units 36, all eight storage units are located at the same site. As yet another example, if the DSN memory 22 includes eight storage units 36, a first pair of storage units are at a first common site, a second pair of storage units are at a second common site, a third pair of storage units are at a third common site, and a fourth pair of storage units are at a fourth common site. Note that a DSN memory 22 may include more or less than eight storage units 36. Further note that each storage unit 36 includes a computing core (as shown in FIG. 2 , or components thereof) and a plurality of memory devices for storing dispersed error encoded data.

Each of the computing devices 12-16, the managing unit 18, and the integrity processing unit 20 include a computing core 26, which includes network interfaces 30-33. Computing devices 12-16 may each be a portable computing device and/or a fixed computing device. A portable computing device may be a social networking device, a gaming device, a cell phone, a smart phone, a digital assistant, a digital music player, a digital video player, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a tablet, a video game controller, and/or any other portable device that includes a computing core. A fixed computing device may be a computer (PC), a computer server, a cable set-top box, a satellite receiver, a television set, a printer, a fax machine, home entertainment equipment, a video game console, and/or any type of home or office computing equipment. Note that each of the managing unit 18 and the integrity processing unit 20 may be separate computing devices, may be a common computing device, and/or may be integrated into one or more of the computing devices 12-16 and/or into one or more of the storage units 36.

Each interface 30, 32, and 33 includes software and hardware to support one or more communication links via the network 24 indirectly and/or directly. For example, interface 30 supports a communication link (e.g., wired, wireless, direct, via a LAN, via the network 24, etc.) between computing devices 14 and 16. As another example, interface 32 supports communication links (e.g., a wired connection, a wireless connection, a LAN connection, and/or any other type of connection to/from the network 24) between computing devices 12 and 16 and the DSN memory 22. As yet another example, interface 33 supports a communication link for each of the managing unit 18 and the integrity processing unit 20 to the network 24.

Computing devices 12 and 16 include a dispersed storage (DS) client module 34, which enables the computing device to dispersed storage error encode and decode data (e.g., data 40) as subsequently described with reference to one or more of FIGS. 3-8 . In this example embodiment, computing device 16 functions as a dispersed storage processing agent for computing device 14. In this role, computing device 16 dispersed storage error encodes and decodes data on behalf of computing device 14. With the use of dispersed storage error encoding and decoding, the DSN 10 is tolerant of a significant number of storage unit failures (the number of failures is based on parameters of the dispersed storage error encoding function) without loss of data and without the need for a redundant or backup copies of the data. Further, the DSN 10 stores data for an indefinite period of time without data loss and in a secure manner (e.g., the system is very resistant to unauthorized attempts at accessing the data).

In operation, the managing unit 18 performs DS management services. For example, the managing unit 18 establishes distributed data storage parameters (e.g., vault creation, distributed storage parameters, security parameters, billing information, user profile information, etc.) for computing devices 12-14 individually or as part of a group of user devices. As a specific example, the managing unit 18 coordinates creation of a vault (e.g., a virtual memory block associated with a portion of an overall namespace of the DSN) within the DSN memory 22 for a user device, a group of devices, or for public access and establishes per vault dispersed storage (DS) error encoding parameters for a vault. The managing unit 18 facilitates storage of DS error encoding parameters for each vault by updating registry information of the DSN 10, where the registry information may be stored in the DSN memory 22, a computing device 12-16, the managing unit 18, and/or the integrity processing unit 20.

The managing unit 18 creates and stores user profile information (e.g., an access control list (ACL)) in local memory and/or within memory of the DSN memory 22. The user profile information includes authentication information, permissions, and/or the security parameters. The security parameters may include encryption/decryption scheme, one or more encryption keys, key generation scheme, and/or data encoding/decoding scheme.

The managing unit 18 creates billing information for a particular user, a user group, a vault access, public vault access, etc. For instance, the managing unit 18 tracks the number of times a user accesses a non-public vault and/or public vaults, which can be used to generate a per-access billing information. In another instance, the managing unit 18 tracks the amount of data stored and/or retrieved by a user device and/or a user group, which can be used to generate a per-data-amount billing information.

As another example, the managing unit 18 performs network operations, network administration, and/or network maintenance. Network operations includes authenticating user data allocation requests (e.g., read and/or write requests), managing creation of vaults, establishing authentication credentials for user devices, adding/deleting components (e.g., user devices, storage units, and/or computing devices with a DS client module 34) to/from the DSN 10, and/or establishing authentication credentials for the storage units 36. Network administration includes monitoring devices and/or units for failures, maintaining vault information, determining device and/or unit activation status, determining device and/or unit loading, and/or determining any other system level operation that affects the performance level of the DSN 10. Network maintenance includes facilitating replacing, upgrading, repairing, and/or expanding a device and/or unit of the DSN 10.

The integrity processing unit 20 performs rebuilding of ‘bad’ or missing encoded data slices. At a high level, the integrity processing unit 20 performs rebuilding by periodically attempting to retrieve/list encoded data slices, and/or slice names of the encoded data slices, from the DSN memory 22. For retrieved encoded slices, they are checked for errors due to data corruption, outdated version, etc. If a slice includes an error, it is flagged as a ‘bad’ slice. For encoded data slices that were not received and/or not listed, they are flagged as missing slices. Bad and/or missing slices are subsequently rebuilt using other retrieved encoded data slices that are deemed to be good slices to produce rebuilt slices. The rebuilt slices are stored in the DSN memory 22.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a computing core 26 that includes a processing module 50, a memory controller 52, main memory 54, a video graphics processing unit 55, an input/output (IO) controller 56, a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) interface 58, an IO interface module 60, at least one IO device interface module 62, a read only memory (ROM) basic input output system (BIOS) 64, and one or more memory interface modules. The one or more memory interface module(s) includes one or more of a universal serial bus (USB) interface module 66, a host bus adapter (HBA) interface module 68, a network interface module 70, a flash interface module 72, a hard drive interface module 74, and a DSN interface module 76.

The DSN interface module 76 functions to mimic a conventional operating system (OS) file system interface (e.g., network file system (NFS), flash file system (FFS), disk file system (DFS), file transfer protocol (FTP), web-based distributed authoring and versioning (WebDAV), etc.) and/or a block memory interface (e.g., small computer system interface (SCSI), internet small computer system interface (iSCSI), etc.). The DSN interface module 76 and/or the network interface module 70 may function as one or more of the interface 30-33 of FIG. 1 . Note that the IO device interface module 62 and/or the memory interface modules 66-76 may be collectively or individually referred to as IO ports.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an example of dispersed storage error encoding of data. When a computing device 12 or 16 has data to store it disperse storage error encodes the data in accordance with a dispersed storage error encoding process based on dispersed storage error encoding parameters. The dispersed storage error encoding parameters include an encoding function (e.g., information dispersal algorithm, Reed-Solomon, Cauchy Reed-Solomon, systematic encoding, non-systematic encoding, on-line codes, etc.), a data segmenting protocol (e.g., data segment size, fixed, variable, etc.), and per data segment encoding values. The per data segment encoding values include a total, or pillar width, number (T) of encoded data slices per encoding of a data segment (i.e., in a set of encoded data slices); a decode threshold number (D) of encoded data slices of a set of encoded data slices that are needed to recover the data segment; a read threshold number (R) of encoded data slices to indicate a number of encoded data slices per set to be read from storage for decoding of the data segment; and/or a write threshold number (W) to indicate a number of encoded data slices per set that must be accurately stored before the encoded data segment is deemed to have been properly stored. The dispersed storage error encoding parameters may further include slicing information (e.g., the number of encoded data slices that will be created for each data segment) and/or slice security information (e.g., per encoded data slice encryption, compression, integrity checksum, etc.).

In the present example, Cauchy Reed-Solomon has been selected as the encoding function (a generic example is shown in FIG. 4 and a specific example is shown in FIG. 5 ); the data segmenting protocol is to divide the data object into fixed sized data segments; and the per data segment encoding values include: a pillar width of 5, a decode threshold of 3, a read threshold of 4, and a write threshold of 4. In accordance with the data segmenting protocol, the computing device 12 or 16 divides the data (e.g., a file (e.g., text, video, audio, etc.), a data object, or other data arrangement) into a plurality of fixed sized data segments (e.g., 1 through Y of a fixed size in range of Kilo-bytes to Tera-bytes or more). The number of data segments created is dependent of the size of the data and the data segmenting protocol.

The computing device 12 or 16 then disperse storage error encodes a data segment using the selected encoding function (e.g., Cauchy Reed-Solomon) to produce a set of encoded data slices. FIG. 4 illustrates a generic Cauchy Reed-Solomon encoding function, which includes an encoding matrix (EM), a data matrix (DM), and a coded matrix (CM). The size of the encoding matrix (EM) is dependent on the pillar width number (T) and the decode threshold number (D) of selected per data segment encoding values. To produce the data matrix (DM), the data segment is divided into a plurality of data blocks and the data blocks are arranged into D number of rows with Z data blocks per row. Note that Z is a function of the number of data blocks created from the data segment and the decode threshold number (D). The coded matrix is produced by matrix multiplying the data matrix by the encoding matrix.

FIG. 5 illustrates a specific example of Cauchy Reed-Solomon encoding with a pillar number (T) of five and decode threshold number of three. In this example, a first data segment is divided into twelve data blocks (D1-D12). The coded matrix includes five rows of coded data blocks, where the first row of X11-X14 corresponds to a first encoded data slice (EDS 1_1), the second row of X21-X24 corresponds to a second encoded data slice (EDS 2_1), the third row of X31-X34 corresponds to a third encoded data slice (EDS 3_1), the fourth row of X41-X44 corresponds to a fourth encoded data slice (EDS 4_1), and the fifth row of X51-X54 corresponds to a fifth encoded data slice (EDS 5_1). Note that the second number of the EDS designation corresponds to the data segment number.

Returning to the discussion of FIG. 3 , the computing device also creates a slice name (SN) for each encoded data slice (EDS) in the set of encoded data slices. A typical format for a slice name 80 is shown in FIG. 6 . As shown, the slice name (SN) 80 includes a pillar number of the encoded data slice (e.g., one of 1-T), a data segment number (e.g., one of 1-Y), a vault identifier (ID), a data object identifier (ID), and may further include revision level information of the encoded data slices. The slice name functions as, at least part of, a DSN address for the encoded data slice for storage and retrieval from the DSN memory 22.

As a result of encoding, the computing device 12 or 16 produces a plurality of sets of encoded data slices, which are provided with their respective slice names to the storage units for storage. As shown, the first set of encoded data slices includes EDS 1_1 through EDS 5_1 and the first set of slice names includes SN 1_1 through SN 5_1 and the last set of encoded data slices includes EDS 1_Y through EDS 5_Y and the last set of slice names includes SN 1_Y through SN 5_Y.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an example of dispersed storage error decoding of a data object that was dispersed storage error encoded and stored in the example of FIG. 4 . In this example, the computing device 12 or 16 retrieves from the storage units at least the decode threshold number of encoded data slices per data segment. As a specific example, the computing device retrieves a read threshold number of encoded data slices.

To recover a data segment from a decode threshold number of encoded data slices, the computing device uses a decoding function as shown in FIG. 8 . As shown, the decoding function is essentially an inverse of the encoding function of FIG. 4 . The coded matrix includes a decode threshold number of rows (e.g., three in this example) and the decoding matrix in an inversion of the encoding matrix that includes the corresponding rows of the coded matrix. For example, if the coded matrix includes rows 1, 2, and 4, the encoding matrix is reduced to rows 1, 2, and 4, and then inverted to produce the decoding matrix.

FIG. 9A is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a dispersed storage network (DSN) system that includes the DSN memory 22 of FIG. 1 , a set of storage units 1-N, where each storage unit includes the computing device 16 of FIG. 1 , and a load-balancing module 498. The DSN memory 22 includes the storage unit set 438. The storage unit set 438 includes a set of storage units 36 of FIG. 1 .

The system functions to store data 500 as a plurality of sets of encoded data slices 504 in the storage unit set 438. The load-balancing module 498 selects one of the computing devices, based on resource status information 502 from the computing devices, to encode the data 500 using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce the plurality of sets of encoded data slices 504 for storage in the storage unit set 438. The resource status information 502 includes one or more of an indicator of a time frame of availability, an indicator of a time frame of unavailability, a time frame for a scheduled software update, a time frame for a scheduled new hardware addition, an error message, a maintenance schedule, a communications error rate, and a storage error rate.

In an example of operation, a computing device determines to at least temporarily suspend operations. The determining may be based on one or more of adding new software, activating new hardware, recovering from a storage error, recovering from a communications error, receiving a suspend request, and interpreting the maintenance schedule. The computing device continues to perform a slice access activity with regards to pending data access requests associated with the computing device. The load-balancing module 498 receives a new data access request. The load-balancing module 498 determines availability of each of the computing devices based on one or more of receiving resource status information 502, initiating a query, receiving an error message, and detecting an unfavorable performance (e.g., detecting slow response latency). The load-balancing module 498 selects the computing device when the availability (e.g., previously known availability) of the computing device compares favorably to availability of other computing devices. The load-balancing module 498 forwards the data access requests to the computing device.

While suspending operations, the computing devices indicates the unfavorable performance to the load-balancing module. The indicating unfavorable performance includes at least one of ignoring the request, sending a late unfavorable response, issuing unfavorable resource status information, and ignoring resource status requests from the load-balancing module. The load-balancing module 498 interprets the indication to determine that the data access request is to be reassigned. The load-balancing module 498 un-selects the computing device from the data access assignment. For example, the load-balancing module sends a cancellation message to the computing device and selects another computing device and sends the data access request to the other computing device.

FIG. 9B is a diagram illustrating an example of load-balancing. The method includes step 506 where a computing device determines to temporarily suspend operations. The method continues at step 508 where the computing device continues to execute pending operations. For example, the computing device continues to process previously accepted data access requests. The method continues at step 510 where a load-balancing module receives a data access request. The method continues at step 512 where the load-balancing module assesses availability of a set of computing devices that includes the computing device. The assessing includes producing availability information based on one or more of interpreting performance indicators, receiving resource status information, initiating a query, receiving an error message, and detecting favorable performance.

The method continues at step 514 where the load-balancing module selects the computing device for execution of the data access request. For example, the load-balancing module selects the computing device when availability of the computing device compares more favorably to availability of other computing devices. The method continues at step 516 where the load-balancing module forwards the data access request to the computing device.

The method continues at step 518 where the computing device indicates unfavorable performance. For example, the computing device ignores the data access requests. As another example, the computing device waits a delay time period before sending a data access response causing the load-balancing module to interpret the data access response as a late data access response associated with unfavorable performance. As yet another example, the computing device delays responses associated with previous accepted data access requests. The method continues at step 520 where the load-balancing module detects the indicated unfavorable performance. For example, the load-balancing module detects the indicated unfavorable performance when the data access response was not received within a desired response timeframe.

The method continues at step 522 where the load-balancing module un-selects the computing device for execution of the data access request. The un-selecting includes one or more of sending a cancellation message to the computing device, selecting another computing device for the data access request, and assigning the other computing device the data access request.

The method continues at step 524 where the computing device determines to resume operations. The determining may be based on one or more of detecting that new software is operational, detecting that new hardware is operational, detecting that an error condition has cleared, and detecting that a level of pending data access requests has fallen below a low data access request threshold level. The method continues at step 526 where the computing device indicates favorable performance. For example, the computing device generates data access responses in accordance with desired data access response timing. As another example, the computing device responds to all data access requests. As yet another example, the computing device sends favorable resource status information to the load-balancing module.

FIG. 10A is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a storage unit (SU) 36 that includes the distributed storage (DS) client module 34 and one or more memory devices 88. The memory includes a plurality of portions of memory associated with different utilizations. The portions may be physical memory or virtual memory space. The plurality of portions includes one or more portions utilized for slices memory 606, utilized for rebuilt slices memory 608, reserved for rebuilt slices memory 610, and un-utilized memory 612. The un-utilized memory 612 is associated with available storage capacity, where the available storage capacity may be calculated as a memory size minus memory used for each of the utilized for slices memory 606, memory used for the utilized for rebuilt slices memory 608, and memory used for the reserved for rebuilt slices memory 610.

The storage unit 36 functions to store encoded data slices 600 in the utilized for slices memory 606 and store rebuilt encoded data slices 602 in the utilized for rebuilt slices memory 608. The DS client module 34 may obtain the rebuilt encoded data slices by at least one of: receiving the rebuilt encoded data slices and generating the rebuilt encoded data slices by retrieving representations of encoded data slices from a decode threshold number of other storage units 36. When encoded data slices are to be stored, the DS client module 34 determines whether sufficient available storage capacity of the un-utilized memory is available for utilization for slices memory. For instance, the DS client module compares a size of an encoded data slice for storage to the size of the un-utilized memory. The DS client module indicates that storage space is available when the size of the encoded data slice is less than the size of the un-utilized memory. The DS client module 34 may determine the size of the reserved for rebuilt slices memory based on identifying encoded data slices to be rebuilt. The identifying includes at least one of detecting a slice error and receiving an indication of the slice error.

In an example of operation, the DS client module 34 identifies a plurality of encoded data slices requiring rebuilding. The DS client module 34 determines an amount of reserve memory 610 required for storage of rebuilt slices for the identified plurality of encoded data slices requiring rebuilding. The determining may include exchanging memory utilization information 604 with at least one other Storage unit, where the exchanging includes receiving an amount of memory required for an encoded data slice associated with, for example, a slice error. The DS client module 34 updates the memory utilization information to include the amount of reserve memory required. The memory utilization information includes one or more of size of the utilized for slices memory, size of the utilized for rebuilt slices memory, size of the reserved for rebuilt slices memory, and size of the un-utilized memory. The DS client module 34 outputs the memory utilization information 604 to one or more of a computing device, a managing unit, and a user device.

The DS client module 34 obtains rebuilt encoded data slices (e.g., receives, generates) and stores the rebuilt encoded data slices in the utilized for rebuilt encoded data slices memory. Accordingly, the DS client module updates the reserved for rebuilt slices memory by a similar memory size amount as storage of the rebuild encoded data slices (e.g., lowers size of reserved for rebuilt slices memory and raises size for utilized for rebuilt slices memory). The DS client module updates the memory utilization information and may output the updated memory utilization information.

FIG. 10B-C are diagrams illustrating examples of memory utilization for a series of times frames, where each timeframe indicates an amount of memory utilized for slices, rebuilt slices, reserved for rebuilt slices, unutilized, and a total amount of memory capacity. The total amount of memory capacity remains constant over the time intervals. In particular, FIG. 10B illustrates examples of the memory utilization 614 for a first set of time intervals T1-5. At T1, stored slices use 300 TB of memory space of a total capacity of 500 TB of memory space leaving 200 TB of unutilized memory space. At T2, 50 TB of slices for rebuilding are detected such that reserved for rebuilding is incremented by 50 TB and unutilized memory space is lowered by 50 TB from 200 TB to 150 TB. At T3, a first 20 TB of rebuilt slices are obtained and stored such that the reserved memory space for rebuilt slices is lowered by 20 TB from 50 TB to 30 TB. At T4, a remaining 30 TB of rebuilt slices are obtained and stored such that the reserve memory space rebuilt slices is lowered by another 30 TB from 30 TB two 0 TB and the rebuilt slices is raised to buy 30 TB from 20 TB to 50 TB. At T5, the rebuilt slices are moved to the memory space for slices thus raising the rebuilt slices by 50 TB from 300 TB to 350 TB. Utilized memory includes the combination 615 of utilized for slices memory 606, memory used for the utilized for rebuilt slices memory 608, and memory used for the reserved for rebuilt slices memory 610.

FIG. 10C continues the examples of memory utilization 616 for second set of time intervals T6-T10. The example begins at time interval T6 which is equivalent to memory utilization of T5. At T7, 100 TB of new slices are stored thus raising the memory utilization of slices from 350 TB to 450 TB and lowering the unutilized memory space from 150 TB to 50 TB. At T8, 50 TB of slices for rebuilding is detected such that memory space of reserved for rebuilding is incremented by 50 TB from zero to 50 TB and memory space of unutilized is lowered by 50 TB from 50 TB two 0 TB. Requests for storage of new slices are rejected since the memory space of the unutilized memory is zero. At T9, 50 TB of rebuilt slices are received and stored in the memory space of the rebuilt slices thus raising the rebuilt slices from 0 TB to 50 TB and lowering the memory space for rebuilt slices from 50 TB to 0 TB. At T10, the slices of the memory space rebuilt slices is considered part of the memory space of slices thus raising the memory space of the slices from 450 TB to 500 TB and lowering the memory space of the rebuilt slices from 50 TB to 0 TB. As such, the memory storage space is full and subsequent request for storage of slices or rebuilt slices shall be rejected.

FIG. 10D is a flowchart illustrating an example of updating memory utilization information. The method begins at step 618 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage DS client module) identifies a plurality of encoded data slices requiring rebuilding. As further delineated in FIG. 10E (flowchart illustrating example ways to identify slices needing a rebuild), the identifying includes at least one of: receiving an error message 632 (e.g., no slices detected for rebuild, no access to rebuild information, not enough space to rebuild, etc.); receiving a rebuilding request 634 (e.g., to rebuild specific data slices or range of data slices); detecting missing or corrupted encoded data slices by comparing a list of locally stored encoded data slices (or range of slices) to a list of remotely stored encoded data slices (or range of slices) associated with the locally stored encoded data slices to identify missing slices or detecting unfavorable slice integrity (e.g., corrupted slices); monitoring downloads 638 to the DS memory meeting minimum read/write (R/W) width thresholds but less than a full pillar width (successful download, but not all slices above threshold successfully downloaded); determining 640 when DSN read/write (R/W) requests occur for the plurality of encoded data slices and comparing to known times of inaccessibility for the DS memory storing the plurality of encoded data slices (e.g., DS memory was down for maintenance when original slice R/W request occurred); and querying vaults related to the plurality of encoded data slices 641 to determine one or more missing or corrupted encoded data slices (e.g., other vaults sharing the same data slices may have a list or copies which include the missing or corrupted data slices).

The rebuilding of the plurality of encoded data slices is, in one embodiment, queued for at least one of individual, group, or batch processing and the processing will be performed at a significant time delay from the queuing. As the rebuild processing may occur in the future, the embodiments of FIGS. 10A-G, ensure that memory space is set aside for rebuilds such that interceding requests for memory slice storage will not over utilize memory needed for the rebuild before it has a chance to occur.

The method continues at the step 620 where the processing module determines an amount of memory space to reserve for the plurality of encoded data slices requiring rebuilding. The determining includes identifying slice sizes based on at least one of initiating a slice size query with regards to the remotely stored encoded data slices, receiving a query response, and performing a local lookup based on a slice name.

The method continues at step 622 where the processing module updates memory utilization information to include the amount of memory space to reserve. For example, the processing module increments an amount of memory reserved for rebuilt slices by the amount of memory space to reserve and decrements unutilized memory space by the amount of memory space to reserve. The method continues at step 624 where the processing module sends the memory utilization information to at least one of a storing entity and a managing unit. The sending may further include determining whether a sum of an amount of memory utilized for slices, an amount of memory utilize for rebuilt slices, and an amount of memory reserved for rebuilt slices is greater than a capacity of memory. When the sum is greater, the processing module may further send an indication that the memory is full.

The method continues at step 626 where the processing module obtains rebuilt encoded data slices (e.g., received, generate). The method continues at step 628 where the processing module stores the rebuilt encoded data slices in a local DS memory. The method continues at step 630 where the processing module updates the amount of memory space to reserve for remaining encoded data slices requiring rebuilding. The updating includes determining an amount of memory space utilized to store the obtained rebuilt encoded data slices, incrementing the amount of memory space utilized for rebuilt slices by the amount of memory space utilized to store the obtained rebuilt encoded data slices, and decrementing the amount of memory space reserved for rebuilt slices by the amount of memory space utilized to store the obtained rebuilt encoded data slices. The updating may further include updating the memory space utilized for slices to include the amount of memory space utilized to store the obtained rebuilt encoded data slices and decrementing the amount of memory space utilized to store the rebuild encoded data slices. The method loops back to the step where the processing module updates the memory utilization information.

FIG. 10F is a flowchart illustrating another example of updating memory utilization information. The method begins at step 642 where a processing module (e.g., DS integrity processing unit 20) attempts to retrieve a plurality of encoded data slices from a DS memory to perform an integrity check. Slices are retrieved based on any of: list(s) of slice addresses, list(s) of names, range(s) of slice addresses and range(s) of slice names. In step 644, it is determined if the encoded data slices were retrieved during the attempted retrieval. In step 646, for encoded data slices that were not received and/or not listed, they are flagged as missing slices. For retrieved encoded data slices, they are checked for errors due to data corruption, outdated version, etc. In step 648, if a slice includes an error, it is flagged as a ‘bad’ slice. Bad and/or missing slices are subsequently rebuilt using other retrieved encoded data slices that are deemed to be good slices to produce rebuilt slices.

The rebuilding of the plurality of encoded data slices is, in one embodiment, queued for at least one of individual, group, or batch processing and the processing will be performed at a significant time delay from the queuing. As the rebuild processing may occur in the future, the embodiments of FIGS. 11A-G, ensure that memory space is set aside for rebuilds such that interceding requests for memory slice storage will not over utilize memory needed for the rebuild before it has a chance to occur.

The method continues at the step 650 where the processing module determines an amount of memory space to reserve for the plurality of encoded data slices requiring rebuilding. The determining includes identifying slice sizes based on at least one of initiating a slice size query with regards to the remotely stored encoded data slices, receiving a query response, and performing a local lookup based on a slice name.

The method continues at step 652 where the processing module updates memory utilization information to include the amount of memory space to reserve. For example, the processing module increments an amount of memory reserved for rebuilt slices by the amount of memory space to reserve and decrements unutilized memory space by the amount of memory space to reserve. The method continues at step 653 where the processing module sends the memory utilization information to at least one of a storing entity (e.g., storage/vault peers), user units and a managing unit. The sending may further include determining whether a sum of an amount of memory utilized for slices, an amount of memory utilize for rebuilt slices, and an amount of memory reserved for rebuilt slices is greater than a capacity of memory. When the sum is greater, the processing module may further send an indication that the memory is full.

The method continues at step 654 where the processing module obtains rebuilt encoded data slices (e.g., received, generated) and stores, in step 656, the rebuilt encoded data slices in a local DS memory. The method continues at step 657 where the processing module updates the amount of memory space to reserve for remaining encoded data slices requiring rebuilding. The updating includes determining an amount of memory space utilized to store the obtained rebuilt encoded data slices, incrementing the amount of memory space utilized for rebuilt slices by the amount of memory space utilized to store the obtained rebuilt encoded data slices, and decrementing the amount of memory space reserved for rebuilt slices by the amount of memory space utilized to store the obtained rebuilt encoded data slices. The updating may further include updating the memory space utilized for slices to include the amount of memory space utilized to store the obtained rebuilt encoded data slices and decrementing the amount of memory space utilized to store the rebuild encoded data slices.

FIG. 10G is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example DS client module 34 structure for memory utilization. DS client module 34 may include a plurality of processing modules (or sub-modules) to perform one or more steps of the embodiments of Figures ?????. While this example is shown as seven separate modules, the modules may be combined/separated into any number of modules (local or remote) to complete the various steps and functions of the various embodiments of Figures ?????.

As shown, identify module 34-1 identifies a plurality of encoded data slices that require rebuilding, wherein rebuilding of the plurality of encoded data slices is queued for at least one of individual, group, or batch processing and the processing will be performed at a significant time delay from the queuing. Determine module 34-2 determines an amount of memory required for storage of the rebuild encoded data slices for the plurality of encoded data slices. Update module 34-3 updates utilization information of the memory by allocating a portion of available memory to the amount of memory required. Indicate module 34-4 indicates the memory utilization (e.g., by sending the updated utilization information 604 of the memory to at least one of a storing entity (e.g., other storage/vault peers) and a managing unit). Obtain module 34-5 obtains rebuilt data slices (e.g., from other good copies or related vaults or generates them from other encoded data slices). Store module 34-6 stores the rebuilt encoded data slices in the reserve memory; and modify module 34-7 modifies the utilization information to reflect the stored rebuilt encoded data slices. Additional modules may be included within DS client module 34 to perform additional tasks (for example, but not limited to, passing encoded data slices to/from slice memory during non-rebuild write/read (W/R) operations). Alternatively, obtain module 34-5 and store module 34-6 may perform the receive and store slices 600 tasks, respectively.

FIG. 11A is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a dispersed storage network (DSN) system that includes the disbursing storage (DS) processing unit 16 and the distributed storage network (DSN) module 22 of FIG. 1 . The DSN module 22 includes at least two Storage unit sets 1-2. Each storage unit set includes a set of storage units 36 of FIG. 1 . The system functions to store at least two data objects in a common storage unit set.

In an example of operation, the computing device 16 receives a data object 1 write request 700. The computing device 16 encodes data object 1 using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce first sets (data object 1) of encoded data slices 700-1, 2, n (where n equals the width (number of pillars) of the encoded data slice set). The computing device 16 generates first sets of slice names for the first sets of encoded data slices. The computing device 16 issues one or more sets of data object 1 write slice requests to a storage unit set 1 that includes the first sets of encoded data slices and the corresponding first sets of slice names, where the first sets of slice names fall within a range of slice names associated with the storage unit set 1.

With data object 1 stored in the first set of storage units 36, the computing device 16 receives a data object 2 co-locate write request 702 with regards to storing a second data object in the same set of storage units 36 as the first data object (e.g., in the storage unit set 1). The data object 2 co-locate write request includes a data identifier (ID) of the data object to be co-located with (e.g., a data ID of the data object 1), a data ID of the second data object (e.g., the data object 2 to be co-located), and may include the data (e.g., data object 2) to be co-located when it is not already stored within the DSN module 22.

When the data object to be co-located (e.g., the second data object) is included in the data object 2 co-locate write request, the computing device 16 identifies the set of storage units 36 associated with the data ID of data object 1 to be co-located with (e.g., the storage unit set 1). The determining includes accessing one or more of a directory and a dispersed hierarchical index to identify a DSN address associated with the data ID of data object 1 to be co-located with and performing a DSN address-to-physical location table lookup to identify the set of storage units 36 associated with the data ID of data object 1 to be co-located with. Next, the computing device encodes the second data object (data object 2) to produce second sets of encoded data slices for storage in the storage unit set 1. The computing device 16 generates second sets of slice names for the second sets of encoded data slices, where the second sets of slice names are based on the first sets of slice names such that the second sets of slice names fall within a range of slice names associated with a range of slice names associated with the set of storage units 36 associated with the data ID of data object 1 to be co-located with. computing device 16 issues data object 2 write slice requests to the set of storage units 36 associated with the data ID of the data object to be co-located with (e.g., to storage unit set 1), where the data object 2 write slice requests includes the second sets of encoded data slices.

When the data object to be co-located is not included in the data object 2 co-locate write request, the computing device 16 determines whether the data object to be co-located is already co-located. The determining includes the computing device 16 identifying the storage unit set associated with storage of the second data object and comparing the identity to the identity of the Storage unit set associated with storage of the first data object. When data object 2 to be co-located is not already co-located (e.g., with data object 1), the computing device 16 recovers data object 2 from the storage unit set associated with storage of the second data object (e.g., from storage unit set 2). The recovering includes issuing data object 2 read slice requests 704 to the storage unit set associated with storage of the second data object and receiving the second sets of encoded data slices (e.g., received from storage unit set 2). Next, the computing device 16 issues the data object 2 write slice requests to the set of storage units 36 associated with the data ID of the data object 1 to be co-located with (e.g., to storage unit set 1), where the data object 2 write slice requests includes the received second sets of encoded data slices and the corresponding second sets of slice names.

FIG. 11B is a diagram illustrating an example of generating an updated slice name for a previously stored encoded data slice of a second data object to be co-located with one or more encoded data slices of a first data object. The slice name 706 has a structure that includes a slice index field 708, a vault identifier (ID) field 710, a generation field 712, an object number field 714, and a segment number field 716. A substantial number of the fields of the slice name structure of a slice name of the previously stored encoded data slice of the second data object are updated to be substantially aligned with corresponding fields of the slice name structure of a slice name of the one or more encoded data slices of the first data object. For example, a vault ID field entry of the previous data object 2 slice 1 is updated to be substantially the same as a vault ID field entry of data object 1 slice 1. As another example, an object number field entry of the previous data object 2 slice 1 is updated based on an object number field entry of the previous data object 2 slice 1 such that the slice name of the updated data object 2 slice 1 falls within a range of slice names associated with storage of the first data object.

FIG. 11C is a flowchart illustrating an example of co-locating storage of data objects. The method begins at step 718 where a processing module (e.g., a distributed storage (DS) processing unit) receives a data object 2 co-locate write request to co-locate a data object 2 with a data object 1 to be co-located with. The write request includes one or more of data identifiers (IDs) for the data object 2 to be co-located and the data object 1 to be co-located with. The method continues at step 720 where the processing module obtains a plurality of sets of encoded data slices for the data object 2 to co-locate. The obtaining includes one of receiving, generating, and retrieving. When receiving, the processing module extracts the plurality of sets of encoded data slices from the write request 700. When generating, the processing module encodes the data object 2 to be co-located using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce the plurality of sets of encoded data slices. When retrieving, the processing module identifies previous sets of slice names utilized to store the plurality of sets of encoded data slices based on a data ID of the data object 2 to become co-located, issues one or more sets of read slice requests to a previously utilized set of storage units where the one or more sets of read slice requests includes the previous sets of slice names, and receiving the plurality of sets of encoded data slices 704.

The method continues at the step 722 where the processing module generates a plurality of sets of slice names for the plurality of sets of encoded data slices based on addressing information of the data object 1 to be co-located with. For example, the processing module generates the plurality of sets of slice names to include a vault ID associated with the data object to be co-located with and an object number field entry that causes the generated plurality of sets of slice names to fall within a slice name range that is associated with a set of storage units where the data object to be co-located with is stored.

The method continues at the step 724 where the processing module stores the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in the set of storage units using the generated plurality of sets of slice names. The storing includes generating one or more sets of write slice requests that includes the plurality of sets of encoded data slices and the generated plurality of sets of slice names and outputting the one or more sets of read slice requests to the set of storage units. When storage of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in the set of storage units is confirmed, and when the plurality of sets of encoded data slices were retrieved using the previous sets of slice names, the method continues at the step 726 where the processing module deletes the plurality of sets of encoded data slices utilizing the previous sets of slice names. For example, the processing module issues a set of delete slice requests that includes the previous sets of slice names to the previous utilized set of storage units.

FIG. 11D is a flowchart illustrating one example of obtaining the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to be co-located. The obtaining, step 720, includes multiple processing paths for receiving, generating, and retrieving the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to be co-located (data object 2) based on the location of data object 2 at the time of the request. When receiving, the processing module extracts in step 727 the ID of data object 1, ID of data object 2 and, if included with the request, the plurality of data object 2 sets of encoded slices from the write request 700. When data object 2 to be co-located (e.g., the second data object) is included in the data object 2 co-locate write request, the computing device 16 identifies, beginning with step 730, the set of storage units 36 associated with data ID 1 of the data object to be co-located with (e.g., the storage unit set 1). The determining includes accessing one or more of a directory in step 731 and a dispersed hierarchical index in step 732 to identify a DSN address associated with data object 1 ID to be co-located with and performing a DSN address-to-physical location table lookup in step 734 to identify the physical location (PL) address set of storage units 36 associated with the data ID of the data object to be co-located with. If data object 2 is not already encoded, it is encoded in step 729 using a dispersed storage error coding function.

When the data object to be co-located is not included in the data object 2 co-locate write request, the computing device 16 determines whether the data object to be co-located is already co-located. The determining includes comparing data object 2 PL to data object 1 PL. If they are co-located (data object 2 PL is stored within a range of addresses for data object 1 PL) no further action is required. When data object 2 to be co-located is not already co-located, the computing device 16 recovers (reads), in step 736, the second data object from the storage unit set associated with storage of the second data object (e.g., from storage unit set 2).

FIG. 11E is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a dispersed storage network (DSN) system in accordance with the present disclosure. Computing device 16 may include a plurality of processing modules (or sub-modules) to perform one or more steps of the embodiments of FIGS. 11A-D. While this example is shown as four separate modules, the modules may be combined or separated into any number of modules (local or remote) to complete the various steps and functions of the various embodiments of FIGS. 11A-D.

As shown, receive module 16-1 operates to receive a data object co-locate write request. Obtain module 16-2 operates to obtain a plurality of sets of encoded data slices for a data object to co-locate. Generate module 16-3 operates to generate a plurality of sets of slice names for the data object to co-locate based on another plurality of sets of slice names associated with a data object to be co-located with. Store module 16-4 operates to store the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in DS memory using the generated plurality of sets of slice names for the data object co-locate.

As may be used herein, the terms “substantially” and “approximately” provides an industry-accepted tolerance for its corresponding term and/or relativity between items. Such an industry-accepted tolerance ranges from less than one percent to fifty percent and corresponds to, but is not limited to, component values, integrated circuit process variations, temperature variations, rise and fall times, and/or thermal noise. Such relativity between items ranges from a difference of a few percent to magnitude differences. As may also be used herein, the term(s) “operably coupled to”, “coupled to”, and/or “coupling” includes direct coupling between items and/or indirect coupling between items via an intervening item (e.g., an item includes, but is not limited to, a component, an element, a circuit, and/or a module) where, for indirect coupling, the intervening item does not modify the information of a signal but may adjust its current level, voltage level, and/or power level. As may further be used herein, inferred coupling (i.e., where one element is coupled to another element by inference) includes direct and indirect coupling between two items in the same manner as “coupled to”. As may even further be used herein, the term “operable to” or “operably coupled to” indicates that an item includes one or more of power connections, input(s), output(s), etc., to perform, when activated, one or more its corresponding functions and may further include inferred coupling to one or more other items. As may still further be used herein, the term “associated with”, includes direct and/or indirect coupling of separate items and/or one item being embedded within another item. As may be used herein, the term “compares favorably”, indicates that a comparison between two or more items, signals, etc., provides a desired relationship. For example, when the desired relationship is that signal 1 has a greater magnitude than signal 2, a favorable comparison may be achieved when the magnitude of signal 1 is greater than that of signal 2 or when the magnitude of signal 2 is less than that of signal 1.

As may also be used herein, the terms “processing module”, “processing circuit”, and/or “processing unit” may be a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of the circuitry and/or operational instructions. The processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit may be, or further include, memory and/or an integrated memory element, which may be a single memory device, a plurality of memory devices, and/or embedded circuitry of another processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any device that stores digital information. Note that if the processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit includes more than one processing device, the processing devices may be centrally located (e.g., directly coupled together via a wired and/or wireless bus structure) or may be distributedly located (e.g., cloud computing via indirect coupling via a local area network and/or a wide area network). Further note that if the processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/or memory element storing the corresponding operational instructions may be embedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. Still further note that, the memory element may store, and the processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit executes, hard coded and/or operational instructions corresponding to at least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated in one or more of the Figures. Such a memory device or memory element can be included in an article of manufacture.

The present disclosure has been described above with the aid of method steps illustrating the performance of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functional building blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined herein for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships are appropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed disclosure. Further, the boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significant functions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocks may also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certain significant functionality. To the extent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and still perform the certain significant functionality. Such alternate definitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed disclosure. One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functional building blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules and components herein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discrete components, application specific integrated circuits, processors executing appropriate software and the like or any combination thereof.

The present disclosure may have also been described, at least in part, in terms of one or more embodiments. An embodiment of the present disclosure is used herein to illustrate the present disclosure, an aspect thereof, a feature thereof, a concept thereof, and/or an example thereof. A physical embodiment of an apparatus, an article of manufacture, a machine, and/or of a process that embodies the present disclosure may include one or more of the aspects, features, concepts, examples, etc. described with reference to one or more of the embodiments discussed herein. Further, from figure to figure, the embodiments may incorporate the same or similarly named functions, steps, modules, etc. that may use the same or different reference numbers and, as such, the functions, steps, modules, etc. may be the same or similar functions, steps, modules, etc. or different ones.

While the transistors in the above described figure(s) is/are shown as field effect transistors (FETs), as one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, the transistors may be implemented using any type of transistor structure including, but not limited to, bipolar, metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET), N-well transistors, P-well transistors, enhancement mode, depletion mode, and zero voltage threshold (VT) transistors.

Unless specifically stated to the contra, signals to, from, and/or between elements in a figure of any of the figures presented herein may be analog or digital, continuous time or discrete time, and single-ended or differential. For instance, if a signal path is shown as a single-ended path, it also represents a differential signal path. Similarly, if a signal path is shown as a differential path, it also represents a single-ended signal path. While one or more particular architectures are described herein, other architectures can likewise be implemented that use one or more data buses not expressly shown, direct connectivity between elements, and/or indirect coupling between other elements as recognized by one of average skill in the art.

The term “module” is used in the description of the various embodiments of the present disclosure. A module includes a processing module, a functional block, hardware, and/or software stored on memory for performing one or more functions as may be described herein. Note that, if the module is implemented via hardware, the hardware may operate independently and/or in conjunction software and/or firmware. As used herein, a module may contain one or more sub-modules, each of which may be one or more modules.

While particular combinations of various functions and features of the present disclosure have been expressly described herein, other combinations of these features and functions are likewise possible. The present disclosure is not limited by the particular examples disclosed herein and expressly incorporates these other combinations. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprises: determining, by a load balancing module of a storage network, availability of a plurality of storage network processing units of a set of storage network processing units, wherein availability of the plurality of storage network processing units of a set of storage network processing units is based on availability information associated with the plurality of storage network processing units; in response to the determining availability, selecting, by the load balancing module, a storage network processing unit of the set of storage network processing units to process a data access request; transmitting, by the load balancing module, the data access request to the storage network processing unit selected to process the data access request; receiving, at the load balancing module, a first indication from the storage network processing unit, wherein the storage network processing unit continues to process previously pending data access requests, and further wherein the first indication indicates that the storage network processing unit is no longer available; based on the first indication, cancelling, by the load balancing module, the selecting the storage network processing unit to process the data access request; and receiving, at the load balancing module, a second indication from the storage network processing unit, wherein the second indication indicates that the storage network processing unit is available.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the availability information associated with the plurality of storage network processing units includes at least one of interpreted performance indicators, resource status, results of a query, and one or more error messages.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication indicates unfavorable performance based on the storage network processing unit determining to temporarily suspend operation.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining, by the storage network processing unit to temporarily suspend operation is based on at least one of installing new software, activating new hardware, recovering from a storage error, recovering from a communications error, receiving a suspend request, and interpreting a maintenance schedule.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the previously pending data access requests include one or more encoded data slice access activities.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting, by the load balancing module, a storage network processing unit of the set of storage network processing units to process a data access request is further based on at least one of an indicator of a time frame of availability, an indicator of a time frame of unavailability, a time frame for a scheduled software update, a time frame for a scheduled new hardware addition, an error message, a maintenance schedule, a communications error rate, and a storage error rate.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting, by the load balancing module, a storage network processing unit of the set of storage network processing units to process a data access request is further based on a determined storage network processing unit availability comparing favorably to the determined availability of other storage network processing units of the set of storage network processing units.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication indicating unfavorable performance includes the storage network processing unit doing at least one of ignoring the request, sending a late unfavorable response, issuing unfavorable resource status information, and ignoring resource status requests from the load balancing module.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: after cancelling, by the load balancing module, the selecting the storage network processing unit to process the data access request selecting another storage network processing unit to process the data access request.
 10. A computing device comprises: an interface for interfacing with a storage network; memory; and a processing module operably coupled to the interface and to the memory, wherein the processing module is operable to: determine availability of a plurality of storage network processing units of a set of storage network processing units, wherein availability of the plurality of storage network processing units of a set of storage network processing units is based on availability information associated with the plurality of storage network processing units; select a storage network processing unit of the set of storage network processing units to process a data access request; transmit the data access request to the storage network processing unit selected to process the data access request; receive a first indication from the storage network processing unit, wherein the storage network processing unit continues to process previously pending data access requests, and further wherein the first indication indicates that the storage network processing unit is no longer available; based on the first indication, cancel the selection of the storage network processing unit to process the data access request; and receive a second indication from the storage network processing unit, wherein the second indication indicates that the storage network processing unit is available.
 11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the availability information includes at least one of an indicator of a time frame of availability, an indicator of a time frame of unavailability, a time frame for a scheduled software update, a time frame for a scheduled new hardware addition, an error message, a maintenance schedule, a communications error rate, and a storage error rate.
 12. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the first indication indicates unfavorable performance based on a temporary suspension of operation.
 13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the storage network processing unit has determined to temporarily suspend operation based on at least one of installing new software, activating new hardware, recovering from a storage error, recovering from a communications error, receiving a suspend request, and interpreting a maintenance schedule.
 14. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the previously pending data access requests include one or more encoded data slice access activities.
 15. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the processing module is further operable to operable to select a storage network processing unit of the set of storage network processing units to process a data access request based on at least one of receiving resource status information, initiating a query, receiving an error message, and detecting an unfavorable performance state.
 16. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the processing module is further operable to operable to select a storage network processing unit of the set of storage network processing units to process a data access request is based on the storage network processing unit comparing favorably to availability of other storage network processing units of the set of storage network processing units.
 17. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the first indication includes the storage network processing unit executing at least one of ignoring the request, sending a late unfavorable response, issuing unfavorable resource status information, and ignoring resource status requests.
 18. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the processing module is operable to: Based on having received an unfavorable response from the storage network processing unit, select another storage network processing unit to process the data access request.
 19. A nontransitory computer readable storage medium comprises: at least one memory section that stores operational instructions that, when executed by one or more processing resources of a plurality of processing resources of one or more computing devices of a distributed storage network, causes the one or more computing devices to: determine availability of a plurality of storage network processing units of a set of storage network processing units, wherein availability of the plurality of storage network processing units of a set of storage network processing units is based on availability information associated with the plurality of storage network processing units; select a storage network processing unit of the set of storage network processing units to process a data access request; transmit the data access request to the storage network processing unit selected to process the data access request; receive a first indication from the storage network processing unit, wherein the storage network processing unit continues to process previously pending data access requests, and further wherein the first indication indicates that the storage network processing unit is no longer available; based on the first indication, cancel the selection of the storage network processing unit to process the data access request; and receive a second indication from the storage network processing unit, wherein the second indication indicates that the storage network processing unit is available.
 20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the availability information includes at least one of an indicator of a time frame of availability, an indicator of a time frame of unavailability, a time frame for a scheduled software update, a time frame for a scheduled new hardware addition, an error message, a maintenance schedule, a communications error rate, and a storage error rate. 